Friday, November 16, 2012

Faces of Farming & Ranching

It's good to be back home on the dairy farm after a couple of days in New York City.

New York City?!?!?!? Probably reminds you of that old line, "Country Comes to Town", doesn't it!

At any rate, my wife and I flew up to the Big Apple on Wednesday to attend the US Farmers & Ranchers Alliance's (@USFRA) "Food Dialogues" event held on Thursday. There were three 90-minute panel discussions about some of the most critical questions being asked about our food system: healthy choices, antibiotics, and biotechnology. All three of these discussions have been posted online for you to view at your convenience.

photo courtesy of the Alabama Farmers Federation

But we were not there just to passively sit in the audience. The USFRA launched a "Faces of Farming & Ranching" contest earlier this year, and farmers and ranchers from all over the country submitted contest applications and videos this Summer and early Fall. Semifinalists were chosen from among the big list of applicants, and then that list was narrowed down to nine finalists a few weeks ago. I was humbled and honored to be one of the nine finalists officially announced at the conclusion of the second Food Dialogues panel discussion. You can watch a video of the official announcement here.

We each went through an interview process yesterday evening, and the scoring of those interviews will go a long way in determining the winners of the contest. There is an online voting component, though, which will allow you to support your favorite finalist. Once you register on the site, you can cast one vote per day through December 15, and I would certainly appreciate any and all support you can give me! I would encourage you to check out all the bios and videos of each finalist. After getting to know them, I know our industry, values, and way of life will be very well represented by whomever is selected as a winner.

And in closing, I want to give a quick nod to the farm blogs authored by a few of my fellow finalists: